


Secrets and Lies

by the_one_and_only_one



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, M/M, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-05-14 23:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 17,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5762671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_one_and_only_one/pseuds/the_one_and_only_one
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin has to leave his best friend Will behind in Ealdor when his mother gets a promotion. Will's been treating Merlin like dirt for the best part of a year now, but suddenly changes his mind when Merlin comes round to say goodbye.<br/>Then Merlin starts at Ablion High School in Camelot. He makes instant friends with Gwaine who introduces him to the rest of the group. His academic and social life are going well, until one teacher starts creeping Merlin out with how much he knows about Merlin's past and his father.<br/>His father who nobody has seen or heard from in 17 years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> Hi people.  
> This is my first fanfic so leave some comments on how I can improve my writings etc :)  
> Um, I have an outline of where this will be going and it won't be particularly descriptive because I have a mostly innocent mind and my writing is pretty poor so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> The chapters alternate between Merlin and Arthur's POV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merlin's POV

The surprisingly cold August wind howled as I stalked over to Will's house. I laughed inwardly at the accordance of the weather and my mood. My mother had accepted her dream job in the city. This meant that she would have to go to the main offices everyday, as opposed to just on Fridays which is what she was currently doing. I also knew that this meant that we would have to move to Camelot. Will was my best friend and I didn't want to leave him behind in Ealdor.

Ealdor was a small suburb. The drive to the city took 2 hours with little traffic and if my mum needed to get to the office everyday, it made sense to move closer. I crossed the road and marched towards the park on the beaten track through the field. Within minutes I arrived at Will's house, I didn't even notice my feet had taken control over my brain like that. Of course, it wasn't the first time something like that happened. Whenever I got stressed and went for a walk, my feet would always take me to Will's house.  
  
The quaint picturesque cottage stood in the corner of the lane, with ivy leaves snaking the windows and the front of the house. I opened the gate for the front garden and noticed Will standing in the porch. The wind gushed and his short hair flew around his face for a bit, before settling down again.

"I thought you might come here," he smiled. "Hunith just called. She said you left the house upset." I looked up from my feet and met his eyes. He walked towards me, I stayed by the gate. I didn't want him to come too close. The job I came to do was going to be hard enough without me breaking down.  
  
"Will, I'm leaving tomorrow. Mum starts her new job in the city on Monday and she wants us to spend the weekend there to help settle in. Goodbye Will." I turned around and made to walk back home when Will grabbed my arm. I spun round to find his face just inches away from mine.  
  
"How long have you known about her taking the job?"  
  
"Mum told you." It wasn't a statement, more of a question.  
  
"Of course she told me, she told me the day she told you." He snapped angrily. "I knew this meant you'd leave. It's been at least 2 weeks since then. Why did you wait so long to tell me?" He snarled. I tried to prise my arm out of my grip, but we both knew that Will was stronger than I was, and when he was angry, his aggression took control.  
  
"I didn't want to tell you because I thought the longer I hold it off, the easier it would become. Do you think I want to leave you behind, even after everything you've done to me? Do you think I want to start a new school for my A-levels? This isn't just about you, Will. Me leaving is about more than just you." I started, raising my voice slightly. "Mum knows I don't want to go. She's offered to turn the job down, just for me to stay here. We both know I'm not going to take her up on it. She's been dreaming about this job for 5 years. I'm not taking that away from her and you're not going to make this any harder than it already is. I came here to say bye, and you can't make me change my mind Will."  
  
His grip loosened and I took my chance. Snatching my arm away, I took a deep breath and walked towards the gate again.  
  
"Wait! I know you have to go, but promise me you'll visit every weekend." Will's voice sounded desperate and I turned on my heel and ran back. Pulling him in for a hug, I buried my head into the nape of his neck.  
  
We stayed like that for a few minutes before he pulled out. I felt his fingers lightly lift my chin up to face him. He was looking at me through tears and I searched his face for their meaning. Will had never cried in my presence. I was the 'weaker' one in that sense.

His gaze left my eyes and moved to my lips. I gulped, and his hand moved to stroke my cheek. Our faces were closer than before. One of hands was still on my waist, and his eyes moved back up to meet my own. I saw my reflection in them and he closed the distance between us. His lips were hard, pleading. I tilted my head instinctively to deepen the kiss, although a part of me told me I should stop. His tongue darted out, brushing against my lips. My hands, instead of gripping his neck, loosened and I snaked my fingers through his hair. I parted my lips, and let my tongue roam around his mouth. His hands slid down the side of my body, resting on my hips as he pulled my whole body closer towards him. I moaned into his mouth which, surprisingly, tasted of strawberry laces. I had always expected something more distinguished. His mouth ghosted over my jaw and moved to my ear. He nibbled on my ear lobe before moving down to kiss my neck. He kissed and sucked and kissed some more before I guided his lips back to mine. Somewhere inside of me, I knew this was wrong, but I'd waited so long for this moment that I didn't want it to end.  
  
When we stopped for some much needed breath, I opened my eyes. Will's hands were no longer around my body, but resting on his hips. He looked like he was waiting for an answer. "Well...?" He asked. I frowned. _Well what? What does that mean?_   When I didn't answer he spoke again. "Well, will you stay now?"  
  
I took a step back. "Did you just do that to make me stay?" I asked, in disbelief. My voice didn't sound angry, and for some reason that irritated me. Without thinking, I slapped him across the cheek. "Do you think that I'm just some kind of toy?! Someone you can string around and lead me on? Forget it Will, I'm glad I'm leaving. I'm glad, because when I go to Camelot, I'll make some real friends. Friends who don't brush me off for no reason. Friends who actually care about what I _feel_." I snarled. I turned around and walked away into the night, tears streaming from my eyes. I could hear him calling me begging me to come back.  
  
I walked forwards, away from Will.

* * *

  
That was 1 month ago. I haven't been back to Ealdor since then. I haven't picked up the phone when Will called. I haven't replied to his texts. I cut him off after he ruined our friendship. He left messages on my voicemail, all along the same lines. _Merlin, I'm sorry. I miss you. Call me._ I didn't want to hear his excuses. His texts said the same things.  
  
"Merlin," Mum sighed. "I know you miss Will just as much as he misses you."  
  
"He messed me around Mum, if he really cared about me, he wouldn't have done what he did. He knows how I feel about him and he used it to his advantage. We promised each other we wouldn't do anything for the sake of our friendship and he broke that promise." I got up from my chair in the dining room and took my hot chocolate to my bedroom. I shut the door slowly and sank to the floor against it.

There was a time when I thought I loved Will. That was before I left. I should have noticed it, but after I told him how I felt, Will changed. He started to distance himself from me. Whenever he did talk to me, it was always that he needed something done, a favour - he knew I would do it for him. Instead of being there for each other, it was just whenever he needed me. He would turn me away when I needed him.


	2. Rainy Mornings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arthur's POV

I rolled over in my bed to turn my alarm off. Sitting up in my bed I stretched and flexed my muscles. The weather outside looked dreary and the grey clouds only meant one thing. Rain. _Great_ , I thought to myself. _Perfect start to the new year_.  
  
I swung my legs over the end of the bed and padded to my bathroom. My bad habit of leaving my bedroom door unlocked, as well as the bathroom door too, led to an unfortunate incident involving my twin sister, Morgana. I was just about to step into the shower when I turned around and saw her standing in the doorway on her phone. She looked up before I had a chance to cover my front and screamed.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?!" To be honest, I don't know why Morgana asked me that question. I frowned in confusion as I thought it was fairly obvious what I was doing. I couldn't move my hands from their position without losing my dignity, again.  
  
"Well Morgana, it seems you have reached an all-time high for your observational and detective skills - what  does it look like I'm doing?" I replied, with a sarcastic tone. "In fact, _I_ should be asking _you_ what the bloody hell _you're_ doing."  
  
She shook her head and tutted at me, and if my hands weren't previously occupied, I would not have hesitated to push her out of the bathroom and lock the door. "Father said that we're not allowed to drive our own cars to school and we have to share."

"WHAT?! He was perfectly happy about that last week. What did you do?"  
  
"Nothing!" She bit her lip and glanced towards the shower, avoiding my eyes. "Anyway, you'll be driving in your car. And you should also get in the shower, it's already 7:30. I'll be ready for 8:00." She turned and let her long hair whip me in the chest before she left. I sighed and stepped into the shower.  
  
After breakfast, I called Morgana from the bottom of the stairs. Knowing her, she would probably be getting ready and putting her make up on. If I was honest, I didn't think she needed it. Morgana was a natural beauty -  the type of person who could make a tracksuit look good. Now that we were in sixth form, we were allowed to choose our own clothes. I just chucked on a clean t-shirt and some jeans. Morgana, however, seemed to have put a lot of thought into her outfit. She was wearing skinny jeans and Chelsea boots with a teal blouse and a casual blazer.

  
As she descended the stairs, the corner of her mouth lifted up into a smile. "Like what you see Pendragon?" I laughed and took her arm as I led her out to my car.  
  
"So, are you going to tell me why I have to share my car with you?" I asked, a few minutes into the journey. The loud engine of my car humming as we stopped at a red light. The rain was drizzling lazily.

"Well, you know how I started seeing Leon during the summer?" I nodded. "Last week, Father caught me and him making out in my Mini. We weren't going to do anything more, but Father wasn't happy and he didn't believe me. He said that anymore 'rendezvous' with Leon have to be accompanied by you or him." She used air quotes to exaggerate her story and I sighed.

"So now, _I_ have to watch you and Leon making out."  
  
"Ew, no! Don't be stupid!" She punched my arm. "All you have to do is pick me up and drop me to wherever I'm meeting him. Technically you are supposed to watch the whole date and make sure he doesn't get 'handsy' as Father said, but let's be honest, none of the three of us want that. Hence why you're driving to school."  
  
"How is this a punishment for you? I'm basically your chauffeur! If I was caught making out with someone in my car, I'd be grounded and not allowed to see them! Father favours you so much!" I started getting angry at my father inside. _Considering that I have to carry the family name forward, he should be nicer. After all, I could disown him and then he would be left with no male 'heir'._ He could be very archaic.  
  
I pulled into the Lower Sixth student car park as the rain stopped. Our car park was significantly smaller than the Upper Sixth's, but that was because fewer of us drove. It was only the people who were born in very early September who could legally drive. Morgana and I had been learning to drive on the private estate in Hampshire.  We both passed our test the first time and after only 1 lesson on the roads with an instructor. We celebrated our pass and birthday the same day.

After parking I turned around to face Morgana. "Look, promise me you'll behave with Leon. If you put a toe out of line, I'm calling this off and Father can accompany you."  
  
She stared at me wide-eyed. "You wouldn't...would you?" I was interrupted by a knock on my bonnet. Looking up, I grinned. Standing in front of the car were Gwaine, Percy, Elyan, Gwen, Leon and Lance. Gwen's eyes, initially, were fixed on Lancelot, before she shifted her gaze to Leon. In fact, everyone had started to look at Leon as he made his way to the passenger door.  
  
Leon opened the door and gestured for Morgana to step out and offered to carry her bag. Blushing, Morgana refused. "I can still do some things for myself you know." Although she may have meant it to sound slightly aggressive, her voice smiled.  
  
I opened my own door and got out. "Well how come nobody cares enough about me to open my door?" I complain, mockingly.  
  
Gwaine chuckled and sauntered over. "Look Princess, we can't keep up with your diva-like requests. Plus, Morgana's a pretty girl - they always win." He clapped my back and pulled me to the rest of the group. When we first met, we laughed about how our names all linked back to the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.  
  
"There's one thing missing from us all." Lance said thoughtfully, after we had finished all the 'hello's and 'how are you's. We looked at him in confusion. Lance, as the most philosophical one of us all, probably had an answer to do with something about the meaning of life, only said, "we need a Merlin." There was silence for a few seconds, until we burst out laughing. Clutching at our sides we walked to assembly when the bell rang.


	3. Whiplash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merlin's POV

It is not a good sign when you wake up at 8:00 and you need to be at school at 8:15. I knew it was going to be one of those days where nothing goes my way. I threw on some clothes from the back of my door and,  grabbing my leather jacket and school bag, stumbled out of my room. I flew through the kitchen, picking up a slice of toast from my mum's breakfast plate.  
  
"Merlin, aren't you forgetting something?" She smiled, tilting her cheek up to me. I pecked her on the cheek, mid-bite, and she grabbed my arm. Turning me around she tried to straighten out my t-shirt, in vain, and flattened my hair, also in vain. "Now, I don't want to causing trouble at this new school. Try to keep your mouth in control - your tongue is too loose for your own good." She warned. I nodded, not wanting to speak so I could finish my toast as quickly as possible. I mumbled a 'thanks' before hurtling out the front door, throwing my skateboard out onto the drive.

I skated at full speed towards the school. Looking at my watch, it was already 8:15. Although technically speaking I wasn't late, as assembly started at 8:30, I was supposed to go in earlier to have induction.

  
It was 8:25 when I finally arrived. I should be glad that Mum had found a house so close to the school. Admittedly the house was small, but there were only 2 of us living there so space wasn't really an issue. I rolled through the gates and flicked my board up so I could carry it under my arm. Looking around, I noticed this school was a lot bigger than the school in Ealdor. Back home, we had student population of about 300,  here it looked like there were at least 200 people in each year.  
  
I found the front office, and after apologising profusely for my tardiness, I was taken to a lady named Alice, she was the head of sixth form - the teachers here were called by their first name. I introduced myself and apologised again for being late. Alice greeted me with a warm smile that reminded me of Mum. Her grey eyes were inviting and she motioned for me to sit down opposite her. I took a seat and twiddled my thumbs.  
  
"So, Merlin," her eyes gleamed and I felt at ease. "You must be the new boy from Ealdor. That's about 2 hours away, isn't it? I hope you've settled into the city alright. I know it's a big change coming from a small town like Ealdor. Gaius, your physics teacher came from there, maybe you know each other?" I shook my head. "Ah well,  clean slate right?" I smiled. She couldn't be more wrong.  
  
Alice gave me a map and told me to forget about assembly today. She reminded me that assembly did start at 8:30 sharp everyday, except Friday, and I was expected to be there tomorrow. It was almost past 9:00 when I left Alice's office and I was late for my first lesson. _Great_.  
  
I half jogged over to the maths building and pushed the door. I kept pushing and nothing happened. I heard laughing and turned around. A good-looking guy walked over and pointed at something on the door. I turned bright red and felt my face flush up to my ears.

 _PULL_. The door said 'pull' and I'd spent the last 5 minutes pushing it. The guy laughed again when I noticed my mistake. He held his hand out. "Gwaine, and Percy." He said, pointing to himself then to another guy slightly further behind. Percy dropped his head to make it look like he wasn't trying to listen in on our conversation. He was a big guy, well over 6 foot and he wasn't just tall. His muscles threatened to rip the seams in his t-shirt. _How old are these people? No way are they sixth form._  
  
Gwaine was still standing with his hand out. I took it, very conscious of my clammy palms. "I'm Merlin." Gwaine's eyes widened and he looked at Percy. Percy's head shot up so fast, I thought he got whiplash.  
  
"No _way_! No... That's so weird." Gwaine whispered, more to himself and Percy than to me.  
  
"You're Merlin?" Percy asked, speaking for the first time. His voice seemed to betray his body. He spoke gently, whereas his build implied a deep, gruff voice. When I looked at them both questioning their reaction, Percy elaborated. "This morning our friend, Lance, said that we needed a Merlin. And then, you just _appear_ out of nowhere it seems."  
  
I must have looked really confused, because Gwaine said, "We'll explain at break. Right now, I'm guessing you have a maths lesson to be at?" He took my timetable and looked at the room number. "Go up one set of stairs, turn left and take the first door on the right." I nodded a 'thanks' and made sure to pull the door to the building.  
  
I raced up the stairs, taking them two at a time, repeating Gwaine's directions in my head. Upon entering the room, I cast a cursory glance around. There were only 15 people in this class but they were all bunched together towards the front.  
  
"Ah, you must be Mr. Emrys." the teacher said. She introduced herself as Nimueh and told me to sit in the available seat in the front row. Everyone's eyes followed me as I took my seat. Everyone, that is, except for the person I was to be sharing a table with. I could see his right arm moving around and I assumed he was working on the difficult maths problem on the board. For some reason, he had distanced himself from the rest of the class. Although he was sitting in the front row, the seat to the right of him was empty. However the seat across the aisle was taken. Maybe, nobody sat next to him for a reason. _Just my luck, get stuck with the guy nobody likes_. I put my bag down in the aisle and sat down.  
  
Nimueh waited until I was comfortable, with my paper and pen out in front of me, before introducing me to the class. "Everyone, this is Merlin Emrys." At the mention of my name, my partner's head snapped up. _Why did everyone insist on giving themselves whiplash_?  
  
"You're Merlin?!" He was looking at me with the same look that Gwaine and Percy gave me. I turned so I could see his face better. He had piercing blue eyes, with light blonde hair and an impeccable jaw. I stared into his eyes and almost drowned in them. Cliché, I know.  
  
"Are you the famous Lance?" There was a collective gasp and I remembered there were other people in the room.  
  
After turning around to glare at the other students, who had started whispering behind my back - literally - he looked back at me. His thin red lips curved up at one end, in an almost smirk. "I'm Arthur. Lance is a good friend of mine." He explained.


	4. Is that a hickey?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arthur's POV

After finishing another question Nimueh had left on the board, I sneaked another glance at Merlin. He had ocean blue eyes and black hair which sat messily on his head. I wanted to reach out and stroke his cheekbones which were so sharp they could probably cut glass. His eyebrows were scrunched up in thought and his glasses moved around as he contorted his face.

"Like what you see Arthur?" I hadn't even noticed he had turned. I snapped out of my trance and looked at his face in full. His mouth was still moving, but how was I supposed to be able to concentrate on what he was saying with lips as full as those? I could just imagine how soft they'd be under my own. How they would mould to mine. He clicked his fingers in front of my face. "Hello... Earth to Arthur? Are you in there?"

"Yes, what?" I grumbled, annoyed at being interrupted again.

"Alright, never mind." He turned back to face the front. "Stupid prat." He mumbled.

"Hey! Watch who you're calling stupid! And I'm not a prat! Idiot." The rest of the class has started listening to our conversation again.

Merlin seemed to notice the sudden lull in general classroom noise and waited until it started again before talking. "I was just asking how to do the question on the board. But it doesn't matter, because Nimueh'll be back in a second, I'll just ask her."

"No, wait." I wasn't going to let this chance of talking to him go, even if it was just helping him on a question. Taking his pen from his hand, I started to write on the paper. "If the discriminant is more than zero, then that means we'll have two solutions to our equation, right?" I waited for him to nod, only to find him staring at me. I smirked, "Like what you see Emrys?"

"Don't flatter yourself. You've got something on your ear. Looks like a hickey. Next time, make sure you tell your girlfriend to mark you in a more conspicuous place." He grinned and his whole face lit up, and his eyes almost flashed gold.

"It's not a hickey. My friend punched me when he was drunk." I covered, hoping he would believe me. For effect, I added, "also, I don't have a girlfriend." The second part was true. I'd tried dating a few girls, but whenever I kissed them, nothing happened, no fireworks, no stars. Nothing. Last week when Gwaine and I were very tipsy (and closer to drunk than I'd like to admit), he'd kissed me. Although we're friends, kissing Gwaine felt magical. It was only last week that I realised that I might possibly be gay.

I didn't like Gwaine more than a friend, and he knew that, but it was experimental. I knew Gwaine was practically head over heels for Percy, like Percy was for Gwaine, but neither of them had the balls to say anything.

The rest of the lesson passed uneventfully and as the bell rang at 9:45 to signal the end of the lesson, I found myself hating having to go to physics, despite it being my favourite lesson.

"So what lesson do you have next?" I hoped my voice sounded conversational, but really, I was feeling desperate. I don't know why this was happening. _Jesus Arthur. Get a grip. You're a Pendragon. A bloody Pendragon._ I tried to calm down.

Merlin glanced down at his timetable, "Um, looks like physics. How are the teachers here for physics here?" He looked back at me with those blue eyes. I grinned. This was shaping up to be a good year.


	5. Cheekbones and Princess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merlin's POV

Arthur was walking me down the maths stairs towards the physics building. As we walked, people stared. I was about to ask why, when someone pointed at me. I looked at their face and recognised Gwaine. His hair was long, at his shoulders. Somehow I missed that detail before, but in my defence, his face was very handsome, so I pardoned myself for overlooking whatever else he had to offer. Arthur also noticed Gwaine and made a beeline for him. I had no other choice but to follow.

"Merlin! How was maths? I see you've met Princess here." When I looked confused, which seemed to be my resting face with Gwaine, he explained. "Princess here is a complete diva. No, let me finish." Arthur had begun to protest. "And he doesn't take no for an answer. He likes everything his way." I smiled. Gwaine seemed to be quite a character. Gwaine smiled a lopsided smile back.  

"Gwaine." Arthur said in a commanding tone.

"Yes princess?" Gwaine said innocently. If I'm honest, Gwaine was risking it. Arthur's fists were clenched and he looked murderous as he led Gwaine off to the side.

"Don't worry, Arthur loves Gwaine too much to lay a hand on him. And Gwaine loves Arthur too much to really upset him." Percy looked upset at his own words, as if he resented the relationship between them. Then again, he probably did. I'd seen the way Percy had looked at me in the morning when Gwaine spoke to me. It was as if he was scouting in enemy lands, checking the opposition.

"You know Gwaine will never know how you feel if you stand on the sidelines. And if you don't tell him, how are you meant to find out what he thinks? I know you think it ruins the friendship if they turn you down, but honestly, it's not that bad." I tried to sound encouraging through the blatant lie, but Percy deserved to know if Gwaine was worth pining over. Percy looked down at me. I liked to think I was tall, but standing next to Percy made me feel incredibly small.  

"How did you know? Are you an actual Wizard?"

"Wizard? Nah, I prefer Cheekbones." Gwaine said as he sauntered over. Arthur still looked furious and was glaring daggers at Gwaine's back. Arthur marched over and led me away by my arm, making the excuse that we were going to be late for physics. I tried making eye contact with Percy before I left, but he was too busy looking at Gwaine.

"Stay away from Gwaine." He rounded on me as soon as we were out of their sight.

"Why, because you're jealous? Come on Princess, I thought divas always get what they want. Anyway, even if I was to move to Gwaine, it's not like there's anything you can do. You've probably already had 4 years to try something." I was surprised at my confidence. I let Arthur stare open-mouthed for a full minute before continuing. "Anyway, I thought we had a physics lesson to be at?"


	6. Never annoy a 'Dragon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arthur's POV

Sitting next to Merlin in maths was fine, so I figured that nothing bad could come of sitting next him in physics either. None of my friends did the same subjects as me, so I would have been left on my own otherwise. I chose seats in the middle of the room and Merlin followed, dropping his bag on the left seat.

"I'm left handed. And you're not. It makes it easier for both of us, if I sit on the left side so that our arms don't keep banging into each other, like they did in maths." He clarified, as he did, he sat down and took his paper and pen out.

"So, Cheekbones," I started, using Gwaine's nickname because it rolled off my tongue with surprising ease. "Why the sudden move to the big city?"

"Mum got a new job that's all. Well,  I mean it's kind of the same job, just a promotion and it meant coming to the city everyday. Normally she'd just come in on Friday, but because of the everyday thing, we had to move closer." His eyes darted around, not staying still, as they'd done in maths. For some reason he felt uncomfortable revealing all this to me. To be fair, he hadn't known me for long and if I were in his position, I doubt I would tell anyone much.

"What about your dad?" I tried to keep the conversation going.

"I never knew him. He died before I was born and Mum doesn't like talking about him." He paused for a long minute, leaning forward on his forearms resting them on the desk. He fiddled with his pen a bit, twisting and spinning it through his fingers. "What about you? Mum, Dad, brothers, sisters, ex-girlfriend?" When I didn't say anything, he carried on. "Ex-boyfriend maybe?" I looked at him then.  

"Well, I mean I've had a few girlfriends in the past, but we've never done anything. I've never had a boyfriend, unless you count making out with a guy when you were drunk?" I pointed to my earlobe, and he nodded in understanding. "My dad is a businessman and my mum died when I was 2. I have a twin sister, Morgana, and you're going to keep your hands off her."

Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Gaius. Gaius was an elderly man with shoulder length with hair. He hobbled around most of the time, walking with the top of his back slightly hunched over. He moved to the teacher's desk at the front and deposited the worksheets for the lesson. Looking around the room, he seemed fairly happy. The class was smart and I think he recognised most people. He called out the register and paused at Merlin's name.

"Merlin Emrys?" He said. Merlin replied that he was present and instead of continuing with the register, he thought out loud, "Hunith's son?"

I assumed this was Merlin's mother's name, because Merlin then asked, "How do you know my mother?" Gaius smiled softly, and told him he would explain later. He invited Merlin for coke and cookies in his office. I was suddenly very jealous. Coke and cookies in Gaius's office was a luxury, a treat reserved for the very best of students when they handed in an exemplary piece of work — all Merlin did was have a name. I grunted in annoyance and Merlin turned around. "You get jealous easily don't you? Gwaine was right then, maybe you are a Princess..."

I couldn't say anything in reply because Gaius had started teaching. Gaius taught in a lecture style. After talking for about 20 minutes, in which time we are expected to make notes, he lets us ask questions. The last 5-10 minutes of the lesson is spent doing questions on the topic. Occasionally, if the day's work is very content heavy, or many diagrams need to be drawn, Gaius will give us a handout for the lesson. Today was one of those, so I sat back in my chair slightly and dropped my pen on the table, crossing my arms over my chest.

Gaius spoke about capacitors and their charging up and discharging rate. Merlin was hunched over his desk, scribbling away furiously on my left, trying to get down every word Gaius spoke. He glanced at me from time to time, and looked at my blank sheet of paper.

When Gaius finished and somebody was asking a question, Merlin sat up, "So Princess, are you also Einstein? You didn't write anything down." His voice sounded hoarse after not using it and he swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. Instead of replying, I smirked and pointed at a pile of sheets on Gaius's desk. From his position, Merlin leaned over towards me to try to get a better look at the desk.

"There's handouts." He said. I couldn't decide if he was annoyed or not. "Why didn't you tell me anything?" He punched my arm harder than I expected him to — he was quite skinny and I didn't think he would have any muscle on him. It turns out, he was annoyed. I just shrugged and when he turned to face the front again, I rubbed my arm soothingly.


	7. Gaius

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merlin's POV

Leaning towards Arthur I took his scent in. He smelled of a luxurious shower gel and I found myself wanting to lean back into his body and fall asleep there. I quickly came back to my senses and pulled back towards my seat.

At the end of the lesson, Gaius came to me and told me to go to his office at lunch. I didn't really fancy going, but it made Arthur jealous that he invited me, so I considered going just to spite Arthur. Gaius was a very good teacher, I tried to note down everything he said, but I knew whatever I didn't write would be on the handouts which Arthur pointed out to me.

Arthur led me out towards the car park when I remembered something. "Crap!" I turned around trying to think and Arthur was looking worried. "I think I left my skateboard in the school office. Which way is it?" He pointed to the left and I sped off towards the building.

"Hihaveyouseenaskateboard?" I panted breathlessly on my arrival. I said it in a quick breath without pausing between my words. The lady behind the desk furrowed her brow as she tried to decipher what I had said. She understood while I caught my breath because she leant down under the counter and pulled my beaten skateboard out from under it.

"I think that board's seen better days. " She said with a small laugh. It was an old board, but it was my father's, one of the only things I had to remember him by.

"Cheers," I said, taking the board and turning around. I left the building and skated across to the car park. I saw a group of people and Arthur's blonde hair and Percy's tall build stood out. I carried on skating and flicked it up into my hand when I got closer to them.

Gwaine looked over Arthur's shoulder, "Cheekbones! Good of you to join us." He motioned for me to join the circle. "We have Percy, Gwen and her older brother Elyan, Lance, Leon and Morgana. Then you know Princess." He smiled his lopsided smile as he pointed to each person.

"Hi, I'm Merlin." Everyone looked at me. "So, Lance, your prophecy came true. Percy told me you were saying something about 'needing a Merlin' this morning?"

Lance looked around the circle before looking back at me. "Yeah, I was just saying how we all have names from the Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. And I said that we needed a Merlin to make us complete. It's just strange that you turn up the same day."

I heard the bell sounding and looked down at my watch. It was already 11:15. Time for maths again. I looked up to see Arthur's piercing blue eyes looking at me. As soon as I looked up, I saw his eyes flit away towards Morgana. The twins couldn't look any more different. Where Arthur had naturally tanned skin, Morgana was pale. Arthur's blonde hair was the complete opposite of Morgana's long, ebony curls. Their eyes were the only thing vaguely similar, although they were still different. Arthur's were bright blue, whereas Morgana's were grey with flecks of gold. It was as if they were both the blueprints for the DNA of humans. The best looking of their kind. I snapped out of it when I realised the group was starting to disperse, and followed Arthur towards the maths building.

I caught up with Arthur as he reached the door. When he reached out to pull the door open, I noticed his toned arms. He wasn't just tomed, he was muscular.

"What you waiting for, Cheekbones? We do have a lesson to be at you know." He was holding the door open for me, waiting for me to walk in first. I paused at the bottom of the stairs trying to figure out where to go. Arthur almost pushed past me, heading up the stairs. I followed, taking in the glorious view of his backside which was right in my face. We headed up 2 flights of stairs before arriving in a small room in the corner. Walking to the front of the room, I noticed the rest of the class were whispering. I took the left seat of the pair and Arthur took the right.

"Hello everyone. I'm Arthur. And this is my friend Merlin. We would both greatly appreciate it if you stopped talking about us when we are sitting right here." Arthur used his commanding voice when he addressed the class. Everyone nodded and complete silence fell. "You can still talk, just not about us, in front of us." The hubbub slowly started to build up again, and I nodded I appreciation.

"How do manage to put so much authority in your voice?" He seemed to radiate power.

Arthur shrugged, "I don't know. I guess I've always been told that it you want people to listen to you, you have to act like what you say is the right thing to do. Don't make people feel like they have no option, because then they won't listen to you. You have to make it sound like they want to do what you're asking them to do, and you only suggested it."

Just then, a slim, young looking teacher walked in. He must have been new, because Arthur didn't seem to recognise him. Mordred, as he introduced himself, didn't look over the age of 23, so it was no surprise to me when he announced that he had literally come straight out of uni and into this job.

I looked at him while he talked the basics of mechanics and what we would be studying throughout the year. We were quite similar; both tall, black hair, slim build. His eyes, albeit not blue, where a crystal grey colour. If someone were to see us walking down a street together, I would forgive them for thinking we were brothers. The lesson passed quickly, and Mordred was a good teacher. He explained everything very clearly and I was in a good mood as I set off for Gaius's office.

* * *

 

Gaius's office was very cluttered. He had books, ranging from areas of particle physics to areas of astronomy and space, stacked precariously on top of each other, and crammed into pretty much every nook and cranny. The bookshelves behind his desk had even more and the whiteboard next to the window was covered in mathematical operations and annotations scrawled around, linking the maths to physics. I walked towards the board, trying to make sense of it when I heard a crash to the right. Looking over, I noticed a small door.

"Gaius? Um, is everything ok? I can come back another time if you want." The door was opened and Gaius emerged with another pile of books. I looked around, wondering where he'd have space to put them.

"Merlin! I thought I might have scared you off before." He hobbled around in an almost circle before deciding on a clean patch of carpet and sitting down, setting the books in front of him.

I sat down, if that's what you'd call it. Honestly, I thought it was a miracle I didn't send a pile of books flying into the air when I tripped on my undone shoelaces, before collapsing on my bum. He reached out in front of him and pulled the second book out of the pile. It seemed to be a picture album.

"Your mother and I go way back. When I used to live in Ealdor, Hunith was the daughter my next door neighbour. Sadly, her father died when she was very young, widowing her mother. I grew very close to Hunith and looked upon her as if she were my own daughter. The time came for her to get married, and she honoured me with letting me walk her down the aisle. That was the last I saw of her. By the time she had come back from her honeymoon, I had moved to Camelot and started teaching here." He showed me some pictures of his modest home in Ealdor, and some of him carrying Mum on his shoulders when she was a toddler.

"What was my father like?" I blurted out. If he knew Mum so well, then he must have met my father.

Gaius looked up. "Has your mother spoken to you of him?" I shook my head vigorously. Hoping he would give me some answers, I leaned forward in anticipation. "Then I cannot speak of him to you. It is your mother's story to tell, and not mine." He spoke sadly, and placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I sighed, exasperated. _Why was nobody telling me anything? Was he that bad, that he needed to hide, and let his only child not know anything about him?_

"Thank you for your hospitality Gaius. I'll be back if I have any problems with my physics homework." I knew it was unfair, especially with how kind he'd been to me, but I needed answers about my father. I'd been waiting almost 17 years and Mum still hadn't even told me his name.


	8. Car troubles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arthur's POV

I knew something was wrong from the way Merlin's head hung on his shoulders. He walked over to the group in the canteen and Gwaine, of course, greeted him with a smile and clapped his back. Merlin returned the smile, but his eyes remained sombre. 

"So Cheekbones," Elyan started, "What subjects do you do?" 

"Maths, further maths, physics and chemistry. People say I have a death wish. What about you?"

"The only reason you'd have a death wish is because you're probably in all of Arthur's classes." He joked. "I myself do maths, economics, politics and history. Arthur is the sciencey one out of us, so it looks like he's found a friend finally." 

"Well you lot all do boring subjects. Seriously, how do you do so much writing? Don't your hands hurt? And then there's so many words on your paper, doesn't it give you a headache?" I interjected. I could see Merlin wasn't in the mood for much talking, so I easily shifted the conversation away from him. 

The rest of the group weren't into socialising as a whole. Lance and Gwen were having a quiet conversation which involved lots of pauses where they would just gaze into each other's eyes. Morgana and Leon were otherwise occupied and Gwaine and Percival were having an arm wrestle. This attracted the attention of a small army of year 11 girls, giggling loudly and purposely walking back and forth, trying to get the attention of the boys who had eyes for nobody but each other. They really needed to admit that to themselves. Elyan got up on the pretence of getting a drink. I knew he just wanted to escape the couples theme going on and get away from Gwen going all gooey eyed over Lance. 

"What's wrong Merlin?"

"Nothing, it's fine. Don't worry about me. You just worry about you and the fact that you seem to have no friends." Merlin wasn't a good liar, and he sure as hell wasn't a good joker. I got up and took him outside. Unlocking my car, I told him to get in. "Where are we going? Hang on wait... _ this  _ is your car?! Nice." 

"Glad to know I have your approval Merlin. Now tell me what's wrong. No one apart from me can hear you and I won't judge you for anything you say." I looked into his deep blue eyes. He looked lost and suddenly very unsure of himself. "Merlin, I know you don't know me, but sometimes that's better. You just need to talk and let it out. I won't tell anyone about what you say." I held his eye contact, not breaking it, as if it was a metaphor for his trust. 

"There's nothing you can do about it. Honestly. It's all happened and nothing you say or do will change it. I appreciate the offer though." He made to get out of the car but I locked the doors. "Arthur let me out. You're breaking the law. You can't keep me here against my will I could press charges for assault." 

"You wouldn't dare, you think I'm too hot." I teased. 

Merlin rolled his eyes and pouted his full lips in thought, "Arthur, I think you should know that I don't swing that way. I'm not gay. I have a girlfriend." Merlin said this with such a serious expression, that I couldn't help but stare. 

"But, but the tight jeans. And the way you purposely made me walk up the stairs in front of you so you could look at my arse?"

"Oh, you noticed." He grinned shamelessly. "You  _ do  _ have a nice arse. In my defence, you were flirting in Nimueh's lesson. You kept sucking on your pen and rolling your tongue around it!" 

"I do that all the time when I'm thinking." I defended my honour. Although I had imagined that the pen was Merlin's dick at some point, I was not about to let that be known to him. "It's not my fault if you can't keep it in your pants!"  

He looked at me then. Fully. He turned his body around in the seat and looked straight at me. The heated argument had sent a lot of blood around my body, and my jeans were suddenly feeling very tight. He glanced down at my crotch, which I was doing a very bad job of covering with my hands, and looked back at me. His eyes darkened. Merlin stretched his left arm towards me and my very hard cock, which grew harder every second he looked at it. His fingers lightly brushed over the tent in my jeans. Closing my eyes, I groaned and bucked my hips up to meet his touch, only it wasn't there anymore. And neither was he. Apparently, he'd taken advantage of the fact that my eyes were closed. He had unlocked the doors and made a speedy getaway, knowing full well that I wouldn't be able to go anywhere but the toilets to get rid of my hardness. 

I tried thinking ugly thoughts on the way to the toilets, like Leon and Morgana making out. All that did was make me imagine what Merlin's full lips would be like to kiss. This in turn made my hard-on even harder. I shook my head and decided to go to the changing rooms to have a walk in the shower.

* * *

 

Feeling much better and relieved after my shower, I went back to the canteen. Heading towards the group, I felt a tight knot in my stomach seeing Merlin laughing with Percy. I was feeling possessive of this guy who I'd barely known for a day. Not only that, but his head was thrown back in laughter, revealing a long area perfect for me to go and press my lips to, leaving my mark on him. 

Gwaine pulled me out of my trance. "Percy's a good looking guy Princess, but you've had 3 years to ogle him. So clearly it's not him you're suddenly attracted to. Cheekbones is a  _ very _ good looking guy." Gwaine had been my best friend since primary school. Some notorious year 6 bully, Valiant, had approached me in the playground on my first day in year 3. He called me a posh twat and told me to fuck off. Gwaine had jumped in and just kicked him in the balls. 

I sighed, "Cheekbones is very good looking. He's also very cheeky. Watch he doesn't take Percy from right under your nose." 

"Percy? What would — why does — where does Percy fit into this conversation?! We're talking about Cheekbones here!" Gwaine's sudden anger only confirmed the truth. He realised this and darted his eyes around, looking everywhere apart from me, Percy or Merlin. 

"Well Gwaine," I was not going to pass this chance up. "You said he was a good looking guy. Plus, you told me you liked him at Elena's party in the summer." He hadn't actually said anything, but Gwaine doesn't remember much when he's drunk, so I figured that I could make up a small lie like this if it meant him and Percy finally got together. Gwaine flushed a deep red when I brought up Elena's party and his eyes went straight to my earlobe. I pushed further. "Yes, yes. You gave me this mark, but you weren't whispering my name into my ear. You were moaning for Percy. Trust me Gwaine. I remember everything, regardless of how drunk I am." That very last part was true, so I didn't completely lie, just fabricated the truth slightly. 

"What's up guys?" Elyan was walking over with a can of 7Up in his hand. "Gwen's not talking to me, so that's new. She says I 'always interrupt her important conversatiosn with Lance'. I mean, how is that fair?" He asks himself taking a swig from the can. "Most of the time they aren't even talking, just staring at each other."

"I thought you were ok with Gwen and Lance?" I asked. "I mean, you were fine with them last year?" 

"Well yes, but that was before they suddenly became all soppy. I don't know what I prefer. Last year they were ok, they'd save the PDA for somewhere more private, which is more than what I can say for Morgana and Leon. But now this staring thing, it's getting creepy. It's been like this nearly all summer. I'll walk into the living room, and they'll just be sitting there, in complete silence and staring at each other."

"Maybe — maybe —" Gwaine was struggling to breathe between his laughs, "maybe, they're having a staring contest!" Elyan snorted into his drink and burst into peals of laughter. Their laugh was contagious, and soon we were all holding onto each other to keep standing.  



	9. Torture in the Library

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merlin POV
> 
> I'm really sorry this is so late - if anyone's even still reading this...but i've had school and been so busy with my mock exams and that's effort

Lunch ended too soon. Percy had been telling me stories about Gwaine's drunken escapades, which almost always ended with a run in with the police. It was either that, or kissing someone completely embarrassing and waking up, not having a clue who. 

I had a free period before chemistry, so Arthur and I headed to the library. I sat in a seat opposite him and decided to play the whole 'thinking with my pen in my mouth' trick. He had been putty in my hands in the car earlier. It was incredibly hot. 

After a few minutes, I drummed my hands on the table, making him look up. I pretended not to notice him looking at me, instead fixing my eyes on the physics sheet on front of me, and proceeded to take my pen in and out my mouth. I didn't just move in and out. I decided to do this properly. Closing my eyes, I let my tongue run over the length of my pen, hollowing my cheeks and sucking. I must have been doing something right because I heard a suppressed moan. Opening my eyes, I looked to him through my lashes. 

Arthur's eyes were wide and his right hand was mysteriously under the table. He saw me looking at him, pen still being sucked in my mouth, and he jumped. Him getting caught sent him over the edge and he let out a startled groan. 

"Well, you don't last long do you?" I nodded to the table, where his hand was still hidden. I was trying my hardest not to laugh, but Arthur looked furious. 

"I'm going to fucking kill you Emrys. You and your fucking skateboard." His voice was hoarse. It didn't sound menacing, which I'm sure was his plan but it sounded thick with lust.  I couldn't hold my laughter in for much longer and burst. Geoffrey, the head librarian, shot me looks from behind the main desk, so I stuffed my fist in my mouth to quieten myself. 

After calming down, I put my music in. I tapped my hand gently along to Fall Out Boy and went back to my physics work. My mind drifted back to Will. Will and I had been very close until about last year. We were inseparable. When I told him I was gay, well my exact words were 'not sure of my sexuality', he still hung out with me, only we didn't talk about everything like we used to. There were long periods of silence between us. When I told him I liked him, he stopped talking to me. He'd call me maybe once a week. It wouldn't be a social call, either. He'd be calling because he needed my help and he had nobody else to ask. I told myself that he was just getting used to the idea of hanging out with me after my revelation. It turned out, that he didn't want to hang out with 'that queer boy'. 

I had been too busy wondering why Will wasn't talking to me, to realise that everyone at school had stopped talking to me. I didn't have many friends, aside from Will, and I wasn't close enough with any of them to tell them that I was gay, or maybe bi. Will, as it turned out, had been spreading rumours that I was gay, and that it was disgusting. I tried talking to him, but he pushed me further and further away, and I didn't know why. 

Until the night I went to say goodbye. I was in a mess, emotionally speaking. I was glad to be given a fresh start in Camelot, but I wanted to clear the air with Will first. He got annoyed at me, telling me I should have told him when I found out that I was leaving. And then he kissed me. I was overwhelmed by it. The kiss itself was amazing. Better than I could have ever imagined. Then the aftermath of it was a complete nightmare. I remember the way he stood back, hands on his hips, waiting. Waiting for an answer to a question I didn't know. I felt like I was 8, and the teacher kept picking on me to answer at school, when she knew perfectly well I had no idea. 

Then I slapped him. I told him that I wasn't a toy. That he couldn't just string me around and lead me on. I had had the last word in our conversation. Our last conversation. Thinking about it now, the right thing, ok better thing, to have done would have been to ask him why he kissed me. He was the one spreading all the crap about me being a man-whore, even though I hadn't done as much as kiss another dude. A part of me hated the unfairness of it all, but another part of me felt sorry for him. I knew his life at home was difficult. 

Maybe he'd been brought up thinking that liking boys was very wrong and that males were created to mate with females, and there was no negotiating. Maybe he'd felt the need to refuse what he was actually feeling by pushing me away. 

The bell pulled me out if my reverie. I stopped Billy Joe before he could scream 'St Jimmy' into my ears and packed away my things. At some point during my free period, Arthur had disappeared. I had no idea where he had gone, so I went to chemistry. 


	10. Edwin and Vivian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur's POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who's actually reading this I'm very sorry it's so horribly out of time. I've been really busy with school and mock exams and the rest of the torturous life school puts me through.  
> I apologise for any bad writing because I don't actually do writing often if at all so you'll just kinda have to get used to my atrocious style if you want... Wow this makes me sound so rude..  
> Tl;dr - my writing is awful and I'm sorry

I was in a bad mood during chemistry. Merlin made unbelievably sexually frustrated. He was sucking off his pen during free period, sending me over the edge. I left Merlin halfway through to go jerk off again in the toilets, making it 3 times in 1 day. Then, I purposely took a seat in the left corner, knowing full well Merlin doesn't like to sit on my right hand side. Apparently I was very wrong there. He came in smiling, and put his bag next to mine.

"Where did you disappear to Princess?" He asked with a pout, feigning innonce annoyingly well.

"Oh I think you have a very good idea of where I went. I can't believe you made me do that in a library!"

  
"Well I didn't _make_ you do anything. All I did was think while sucking my pen. You do it all the time, right?" I was backed into a corner now. If I was honest, then I could say that I was doing it to see his reaction, but I also do suck my pen when I think. I had no idea how erotic it could be though.

  
"Well, I mean... Well... I don't close my eyes and run my tongue down the whole length of it, do I?!" As usual, we were interrupted by the arrival of a teacher. I'd like to say Edwin glided in, but that would be a lie. He waltzed in and lay his handouts on the desk. Introducing himself, he passed out a plan of the room with empty boxes. Filling in our names on the seating plan, I sneaked a glance at Merlin. He was concentrating on Edwin's face. Of course, I'd seen it before, but it could be a shock to someone who's not used to seeing it. The entire right side of Edwin's face was scarred. Not just scars, but scars which made his skin shrivel and disfigured.

"Hypnotising, isn't it?" Merlin had been staring for 2 seconds too long. "Acid accident at uni. Left me like this since then." Edwin was handing out booklets, stopping at our desk to talk to Merlin.  

"Which acid was it?" He finally managed to say after opening and closing his mouth several times, turning red. 

"Highly concentrated hydrofluoric acid." Edwin said simply before moving away.  

The lesson passed in a blur. Edwin gave us lots of work with very little time to do it in. Merlin was smart. He understood everything and worked hard. I didn't need to try hard to keep up, everything came naturally for me. 

Given Merlin and my timetables were exactly the same I knew we both had a free period, finishing the day at 2:30. I had to wait for Morgana to finish at 3:15 thanks to Father's punishment for me, rather than for her, so Merlin and I headed back to my car.

I stopped in my tracks. _Vivian. Crap_. I hadn't spoken to her all summer, after telling her I needed 'space'. It was a rubbish excuse, but she didn't understand when I'd tried to break up with her before. She had been very annoyed at the 'space' idea although she backed off. 

"Arthur!" She cooed from the passenger door of my car. I grimaced at Merlin, who looked like Christmas had come early, and nodded at her. 

"Hi Vivian. How are you?" I tried to be nice, but Vivian repulsed me. She was pretty and had a slim body with waist length platinum hair, but she wasn't my style. Vivian was the kind of girl that the captain of the football team dates in films. Ignoring the fact that I was captain of the football team, I had no interest in Vivian.

"Arthur!" She jumped on me, and almost strangled me with her death grip around my neck. "I've missed you all summer. You didn't call me once, you said you would. And then I see you at Elena's, and you didn't say hi." She was starting to whinge, and I did not want to be embarrassed in front of Merlin again so I led her slightly away. 

"Vivian, I told you before the holidays. I. Don't. Want. To. Date. You." I said each word slowly and clearly hoping that I'd get through to her.  
She shook her head and fussed over me, straightening my t-shirt where she'd creased it.

"Now, now Arthur. I know you're still not right in the head when you say things like that. I'll give you another few days to think about it. This is your last chance." Maybe she thought that I was playing hard to get, even though she already had me? "In the meantime, you can introduce me to your friend over there." She said, nodding back towards Merlin. 

I called Merlin who had been practicing ollies in the almost vacant car park. He skated over and shook his hair out of his eyes. Damn, he looked sexy doing that. "Merlin, this is Vivian, my _ex_ -girlfriend." I said with a pointed glare. "Vivian, this is Merlin. He's in my classes." They shook hands amicably and then _Mer_ lin had to go and open his big mouth. 

"You don't look like you've stopped dating. Trust me Viv — can I call you Viv? — he couldn't stop talking about you in physics." Merlin said, stifling his laughter. Vivian giggled nasally, and gave Merlin a flirtatious pat on the arm. She looked at me, and batted her eyelashes before moving in to kiss me. _Hell, no_. It was too late to push her away, so I turned my head, letting her kiss my cheek instead. 

To say Vivian was annoyed would be an understatement. Her face grew red with rage. In her 'I'm calm, but I'm going to kill you later' voice, she looked sweetly at Merlin. "Well, Merlin, it was nice to meet you. Arthur." She left without looking at me. 

The second she left, Merlin turned to look at me and finally let his laughter free. We stood there, struggling for breath while we laughed and imitated her dramatic exit. We whiled away the rest of the time talking and laughing about my relationship with Vivian. 

Before I knew it, the bell was ringing, signalling the end of the day. Gwaine and Percy came out of drama class together, and walked to where we were sitting on Merlin's skateboard in the middle of the car park. There were only 5 other cars apart from mine. 

"Cheekbones!" Gwaine grinned. "Have you guys been getting busy?" Merlin laughed and got up to greet him, leaning in front of me, with his jeans and tightly cupped arse a few inches from my face. Not. Again. Gwaine saved me when he pulled Merlin towards him. "You know, Arthur's hosting his back to school party this weekend. You should join us."  I don't know when Gwaine was planning on telling me about my own party, but Gwaine was a very spontaneous person. 

"When we're you planning on inviting me to your ball, Princess?" Merlin teased. He flashed a winning smile in my direction and if had I been standing up, I wouldn't have been after. Gwaine and Merlin went back to their conversation. I took advantage of the quiet time to have a chat with Percy. 

"How was drama class, Perce?"

"Oh, you know, nothing interesting really happened." Percy jabbed at the concrete with a stick he'd found nearby. "Gwaine couldn't stop talking about the girl he liked in year 11 with, and I quote, 'the big arse, and the even bigger tits'. He keeps sending me this mixed signals. Sometimes he acts like he likes me, then he goes and talks about some girl's pants he almost got into on the weekend. How am I meant to know where I stand?" He looked over at Gwaine, who now had his arm around Merlin's shoulder as he walked him around the car park. "And then he goes and flirts with everyone in front of me! He's known that kid for a day, and he can't keep his hands off him." Grumbling, he stood up. 

"Percy, we've been through this. You need to tell him before it gets too late. Trust me, I know he likes you. He told me at Elena's party." Percy hadn't come and he didn't know about the kiss, so I wasn't going to tell him. "You know Gwaine. When he's drunk, he tells the truth. He's trying to find out if you like him! All these stories and flirting, it's supposed to be making you jealous and you have to show him that."

Percy shook his head and picked his bag up, "I'm going home. I'll walk, don't worry." He added when I took out my car keys, ready to drive him home. 

"Think about it. Seriously. You need to tell him."  
It was a good thing that Percy decided to walk, because Leon and Morgana had decided to go on an impromptu double date with Gwen and Lance, leaving me to be the chauffeur. Neither of the couples wanted to split up, so I offered my empty passenger seat to Merlin. He took it with a shrug. Gwaine and Elyan got onto Gwaine's moped and went their own way. 

After dropping the couples at the café, I asked Merlin for his address. "So Cheekbones, you gonna tell me where you live, or are we just going to sit here in silence and smell the sexual tension in the air?" Merlin laughed, lighting his face and eyes, and told me a name of a road that was about 20 minutes away. I decided that it would be fun to take the long route.


	11. Merlin's thoughts on matchmaking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin's POV

"You given any more thought to the conversation we had at lunch?" Arthur asked to the silence.   
  
"You mean the one about me being gay, or the one where I should talk and let my feelings flow?"   
  
"The second one. The one about you talking about whatever's troubling you." Arthur said, flushing a deep red. "You know, the one where I told you I won't judge you for anything you say."  
  
"Well, I've thought about it. And I've decided that what's my business will stay my business. I don't want to talk about it to you, or anyone else." If I wasn't careful, this conversation was going to get deep. "So what's the deal with Gwaine and Percy?"   
  
"Ah, you noticed..."  
  
"Noticed?! They might as well have been wearing neon signs flashing on and off tell the whole world they like each other!"  
  
"Well the problem is, is that Gwaine is a very hormonal teenager and he flirts with anything that breathes. And Perce. Percy doesn't want to say anything that will ruin whatever they already have. He's scared of rejection and not only that, he's scared of what his and Gwaine's relationship will become like whatever they do." The engine hummed while I thought.   
  
"What about your party this week? Why can't you get them together then?"  
  
Arthur laughed. "Merlin, we've been trying to set them up for almost a year. Those 2 are immune to our methods."  
  
"Ah, but they don't know mine." I said, with a devillish grin.


	12. Meeting Hunith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur's POV

We arrived at Merlin's house not long after. "D'you want to come in?" He asked casually, before opening his door. "There's no point in you going back to the café so early." I nodded and killed the engine, following Merlin up the small driveway to the house.   
  
"Merlin?" A voice called from a room to the right. "Is that you?"   
  
"Hey Mum," He replied, following the voice to the kitchen. He leaned down to her and pecked her lightly on the cheek. "This is my friend Arthur. Arthur this is my mum."  
  
"Good afternoon Mrs Emrys." I replied in my formal voice. Merlin's mother looked like she was holding back giggles — _well that's where Merlin gets it from_.   
  
"Please," She said. "Call me Hunith. Do you guys want anything to drink? I was just about to put some pasta on for dinner. Something's come up at work and I just have to go in. I'll be home in a few hours though. You don't mind making dinner do you?" She asked Merlin. Her voice was apologetic. "It's been a really busy week. I'm sorry to make you boys cook, but I'll be back before 9."   
  
Merlin nodded. "It's fine Mum. Honestly. Go. We'll be fine here." Merlin looked happy for her. She thanked him and picked up her car keys, kissing Merlin on the cheek before heading out.   
  
"Does she like her job?" My father was always working. I rarely saw him at home and when he was home, he was busy upstairs in his office, which was out of bounds for Morgana and I.   
  
Merlin seemed surprised at this question. "Of course she likes it. I wouldn't let her carry on if she didn't like it. So, you want a drink?" He passed me a bottle of water from the fridge and excused himself while he went to the bathroom. I took this free moment to explore the ground floor of Merlin's small house. It was cosy, and the walls were covered in pictures of Merlin and his mother.   
  
"Why don't you have any pictures of your mum and dad together?" I asked Merlin when he got back from the toilet. He mumbled a reply which I couldn't hear and busied himself with making pasta. I assumed that's what Merlin had been upset about earlier and didn't push the subject.   
  
While the pasta was boiling, Merlin took out his maths homework. I joined him and we sat on the small table in the kitchen working together. We were finished quickly and dinner was still cooking. I felt my phone vibrate after a few minutes and looked at the caller ID. I answered and Morgana informed me that they would be done in 30 minutes. I told Merlin I'd have to leave soon to pick her up and then head home. I might have been imagining things, but Merlin looked slightly crestfallen at this.   
  
"Why don't you bring her here? We've got enough food, and Mum won't be home for a while still." He offered. I wasn't exactly going to refuse, so I nodded after pretending to think about the pros and cons of his proposition.   
  
"Ok, well in the meantime, you're going to tell me about this kid." I pointed to a boy Merlin was hugging in a photograph I found on the mantlepiece. He had short brown hair and boys looked to be about 9 years old. Merlin's unruly mess of hair sat on the top of his head and his blue eyes shone in the sunlight.


	13. Too many memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin's POV

"That's Will." I said through clenched teeth. I was having a perfectly good time, and then _Will_ had to go and fucking ruin it and he wasn't even here. "Will was my best mate. I didn't have many friends and he stuck by me. When I told him I was gay, he didn't hang out as much. I told him I liked him, and he stopped talking to me completely. Then I spent too long wondering why Will wasn't talking to me, to realise that nobody else was either. Anyone who I got along with didn't talk to me. Will had been spreading rumours about me.   
"I decided to be the bigger person in all of this. I went to say goodbye before I left and he kissed me. It wasn't just a small kiss. We made out on his front porch. It was everything I'd dreamed of. Then when he pulls away he just says _'Are you going to stay now?'_. He knew how I felt and he just used me. I felt disgusting. I felt exactly how Will had described me in those rumours. I turned and left. I haven't spoken to him since I got here." Sometime in my speech I had found the strength to move forward and pick up the framed photograph.   
  
I looked at it and brought a tender finger up to stroke Will's face before my anger took control and I threw the photograph on the floor, smashing the glass in the frame. "I TRUSTED him! I trusted him and he used me!" I heard myself screaming to the picture which now lay on the floor underneath a bed of broken glass. "He fucking used me! USED ME! WHAT KIND OF FRIEND DOES THAT! What kind of _person_ does that?"   
  
Arthur's hands had found their way to my waist and he pulled me in close. I didn't want to be held like this. I struggled against him. He kept me still, firm muscle holding me down. "Sh...sh...it's ok. He's not here. You left him behind. It's ok. Don't worry." Arthur breathed comforting words into my ear while stroking my back gently.   
  
A few minutes later, and we hadn't moved. We were standing in the middle of the living room, with the broken frame of Will's photograph lying on the floor. "Your balls are vibrating. You should probably learn how to control yourself." I laughed through the dried tears on my cheek.   
  
"Idiot..." Arthur whispered onto my back. "It's probably Morgana telling me that she's done. I don't want to leave you here alone. D'you want to come with me?" He gestured to the floor and the picture. I nodded without needing to think about an answer.  
  
"I'm just going to turn the pasta off. We can sort that out later." I walked away rubbing the heels of my hands into my eyes. Leaning on the kitchen counter I replayed the scene in my head. _Nothing actually happened. He hugged you and that's it._


	14. Morgana and Merlin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur's POV

Leaving Merlin alone right now would have been the worst idea I have ever come up with. After he sorted out the kitchen, he stood waiting by the door, ready to leave. "I'm sorry about my outburst. It's not fair of me to expect that of you." He was apologising? He hadn't even done anything.  
  
"Merlin, I told you I meant what I said at lunch. I am here if you need me even if you don't know me. Think of me as your personal therapist." I said in my most soothing voice. We stepped outside and into the car. The rain had started lightly spitting on our faces. The journey was mostly silent save for Merlin flicking around on the radio trying to find a station he   
liked, before giving up altogether and turning it off.   
  
"I meant what I said too. You do have a nice arse." Merlin said after another few silent minutes. I grinned. _Was Merlin flirting with me?_   He carried on, "But, what's my business will stay my business until I want to tell you." I shrugged in understanding.   
  
We soon arrived at the café and Merlin jumped into the backseat when Morgana arrived. She smiled gratefully and sat down in the passenger seat. "Thanks Merlin, I thought you would have gone home?"

  
"Well I would have, if Arthur didn't insist on driving me home, barging into my house and taking my mother away from me!" He argued.   
  
I turned around, shocked. "How is it my fault that your mum had to go into the office?"

"Because she works in your dad's office and for the last month, he can't seem to work without her!" He retorted.   
  
"Oh."   
  
"Yeah, _oh_."   
  
"Children please. Stop these fickle arguments and let's go home. I'm hungry." Morgan said, trying to diffuse the tension.  
  
"How are you hungry?! You just had a date!" I turned to her, before switching the car on and heading back to Merlin's house.   
  
We arrived at our destination and Merlin offered for us to come in and eat with him. Morgana, being the insensitive, selfish witch she is, agreed enthusiastically and we piled into Merlin's kitchen, where he busied himself with making the pasta, and avoiding eye contact. Morgana kept shooting me pointed stares in the awkward silence, willing me to apologise.   
  
"Merlin, I'm sorry about what I said. I didn't mean to upset you." I grumbled. Merlin snorted and mumbled something incoherent, before proceeding to turn bright red. "Did you just call me 'prat'?" His eyes widened and his gaze shifted to the tomato sauce and he flushed redder than the food. I didn't get an answer because Morgana chose that moment to burst out laughing.   
  
"You guys — you two — it's like watching 5 year olds in the playground when they like each other." She finally managed to finish her sentence before collapsing forward onto the table, her body shaking between breaths.   
  
"Pffft. As if anyone could like _that_ thing." Merlin laughed, jabbing his thumb in my direction.   
  
"HEY! I am an extremely likeable person!" I punched him lightly on the arm.   
  
"Yes, yes. Yep I could definitely see that today — Vivian was all over you." He said thoughtfully, before turning back to the food. My mind unconsciously cast itself to the small argument we'd had at lunchtime — Merlin's cheeks had been flushed slightly and he was short of breath with his eyes blown wide. I could think of a completely different scenario where that could apply, and suddenly my brain stopped receiving blood and it was sent to other parts of my body. Not wanting to embarrass myself further, I grunted in annoyance and sat down.   
  
"So Merlin," Morgana started, "tell me about your first day. I hope Arthur wasn't too mean — he has a bad habit of saying the first thing that he can think of."  
  
Merlin grinned, lighting his whole face, his earlier outburst forgotten. "It was fine. Arthur didn't say everything he was thinking, cos if he had, he wouldn't have the balls to be standing in my kitchen. He'd probably be at home wanking in the shower." _Ugh, I was going to throttle that traitor._

Morgana proceeded to make a disgusted face before agreeing. "Hmmmm. If Leon wasn't on the scene, Arthur would have no chance against me." She winked seductively.   
  
"Morgana! Whose side are you on?!" Morgana mublmbled something while pointing to Merlin, sounding suspiciously like 'he's prettier'.


	15. Stamina is very important

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin's POV

After we finished eating, Arthur had jumped into the car at his first opportunity, leaving me with Morgana. She pulled me in for a tight hug. "You're very muscley Merlin." She said, poking at my abdomen. "What sports do you do?"   
  
"Oh, I don't do team sports but the exercise I do comes from free running and cross country."  
  
"Ah," She winked. "Good stamina then." Laughing, I walked her to the car and bade her farewell. I turned back to the house and went inside to clear up the remains of our meal.   
  
After tidying the kitchen, and restoring it to Mum's original glory, I picked up a dustpan and brush and made for the living room. I don't know what had come over me to suddenly collapse in front of Arthur like that. I didn't want to be that spineless kid, even though we weren't kids anymore. I brushed most of the glass into the pan and emptied it into the bin and carefully picked up the photograph.   
  
_"Will! You're going to fall! Get DOWN!!" I shouted. Will was about 40 feet in the air on a great oak tree in Old Man Thatcher's field. We weren't strictly allowed in the fields, but Thatcher was old and between the time of him noticing us, if he did, and him catching us, we would be halfway across the village — never underestimate the speed of 2 determined 8 year olds._  
  
 _"I'll be fine. Stop worrying, come here and join me." He patted the branch he was sitting on. I sighed. I loved climbing things and running between them, looking for ways to jump from one section to another. Climbing trees was no different. Placing my hands on the well worn grooves of the trunk, I pushed off the ground and pulled my body weight up onto the tree. Within minutes, I found myself reaching Will's branch and sitting down, dangling my legs over the edge.We pointed out the different shapes we could see of the village and the next town, past the setting sun._

  
_Soon the sun began to dip below the horizon and we knew it was time to leave. Will climbed down the tree and jumped the last 6 feet or so, whereas I decided to climb down and jump the last 15 feet, bending my knees and rolling away from the tree to break my fall. "Thats not fair!" Will pouted. "How come you can do all that fancy stuff, but I'm not allowed to?"_

_"Because Will, I don't hurt myself when I do." Will was very clumsy sometimes and he didn't have the natural ability to climb like I did. He huffed in annoyance and picked his school bag off the ground._   
  
_"Fine, let's go. I'll race you!" He said over his shoulder, already speeding away. I set off, catching up with him and we ran the rest of the way home together._

_It was still light by the time we reached my house and Mum stood in the front garden shaking her head, disapproving. "Boys you know you aren't allowed to climb that tree."_   
  
_Will and I looked at each other. "We weren't climbing." I started to argue, stopping when she took out the camera in her pocket. She kept a small digital camera in her pocket in case a photograph opportunity arose._   
  
_"You two look so happy today. What were you talking about on the tree?"_

_She positioned the camera ready to take a picture and Will pulled me into a hug and posed for the camera. "That's a secret, aunty Hunith. I can't tell you." He said, zipping his lips. He let go of me and walked around Mum, into the house. Mum looked down at me and smiled, pulling my head gently towards her and walked me inside too._  
  
I remembered that day surprisingly clearly. Somehow, tears had managed to find their way down my face again — I missed how simple life had been then. Shaking my head out of that state of mind I carefully folded the photograph and placed it in the back pocket of my jeans. I'd worry about it later, I had to vacuum the living room first to pick up any remaining pieces of glass. After I finished the vacuuming, I went back to the kitchen and picked up my school books. I lugged them up the stairs and half threw them onto my bed. There was a suspicious crunch when the books landed on my bed and I turned to see what caused it. Inside my mechanics textbook, there was a crumpled, handwritten note:  
  
 _If you have the right questions, I can give you the right answers._   
  
I read and reread the note, trying to figure out its meaning. I didn't recognise the writing, but I didn't know anyone well enough to know their handwriting. The note wasn't signed off either, just 2 lines on a torn piece of lined paper. Questions, what did it mean by questions? I turned it over and saw a phone number on the back. Frowning, I decided it would probably be better if I didn't call it — I had no idea who the note was from and if it was even intended for me, the person who owned the book before me could have been the original recipient.


	16. Waiting for a call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur's POV

"Morgana, do you have any idea how annoying you are?" I asked, as soon as she sat in the car. "He was obviously annoyed at me and then you go and invite yourself into his house." I turned the engine on and started driving home.   
  
"Arthur, couldn't you see he was just messing with you?"The rest of the journey was silent, except for the engine humming in the background. We drove through the poorer, and less well off part of town before arriving in our neighbourhood. Killing the engine after I turned into the driveway, I got out and waited for Morgana before locking the car. Father gave us the option of having the car parked for us by the butler, but I had refused point blank — I could do some things for myself.   
  
The house loomed over me and I wasn't looking forward to going inside. Seeing Father required a certain frame of mind which I didn't have right now. I walked through the familiar oak double doors and breathed. The house had been scrubbed and cleaned in the last few hours, judging by the stench of cleaning peroxides and bleach in the air, and the marble flooring of the entrance gleamed. I smiled a thanks to George, the butler who was holding the door open, and marched towards my room.

  
Sitting on the  foot of my bed, I ran my hands over my face and raked my fingers through my hair. Today had been a weird day. So many unusual things had happened. Merlin arriving after Lance's comment was at the top of that list. Then all the things that had happened in his company were more strange. He put up a front of being that kid who had everyone curled around their little finger, but earlier at his house he had completely broken down. I knew why he had broken down — it was because of his friend Will — but I had wanted to find out more about him than just that small amount of information.   
  
I'd left my number on a sheet inside his maths textbook. The piece of paper had writing on the other side, so I assumed it was part of his homework and that he would pick it up at some point. Judging by the fact he hadn't called yet, he hadn't picked up his work, or looked through everything properly. For some reason, I felt like a lovesick 13 year old who had just come back from their first date, waiting for the person to call them again. I was almost 17 and I was definitely and decidedly _not_ lovesick.   
  
Merlin was interesting, not to mention insanely hot and my type, but I barely knew anything about him. I wanted to find out more, but without seeming too obvious there wasn't much I could do. I pulled my laptop onto my bed from my desk and fired it up. I opened Google and typed 'Merlin Emrys'. A few links came up, all highlighting 'Emrys', but not Merlin. I clicked on the first one. It was a news article, dated around 17 years ago, about a missing person Balinor Emrys. His name was as unusual as Merlin's — they must be related, Emrys isn't exactly a common name. I skimmed through the article. The main part I found was the fact that Balinor went missing and nobody knew where he had gone, or why. I tried searching Balinor's name in Google, as opposed to Merlin's, and came up with more results. The most recent article about him was dated 3 years ago, when someone thought they had sighted him in a small village called Ealdor. It sounded very familiar, but I couldn't remember where I'd heard it before. I tried to find out some other information, but there was nothing new. By the time I gave up, it was close to midnight and I closed the laptop and lay down. I decided not to mention the phone number thing to Merlin.


	17. Pointless alarms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin's POV

The rest of the week passed in a blur of lessons and making Arthur feel uncomfortable — the latter being far more enjoyable. It was Friday evening when Gwaine approached me on my own. I was about to leave the gates when I heard his voice. "Cheekbones! Where are you going? It's Friday night. The weekend starts now." He walked over and swung his arm around my neck, keeping me close to him. "We're all going to Arthur's." As usual, my face was blank with confusion. "The party, remember?"   
  
"Oh, right, yeah. Look, I don't really —"  
  
"So I'll just walk you to your house, you can change then I'll take you to Arthur's." Gwaine didn't bother waiting for me to finish my sentence. I hadn't really wanted to go to the party — they weren't my thing. I mean, all you end up with is a bunch of drunk teenagers who start grinding against each other. Gwaine had started walking home with me, and for some reason, I found myself unable to say no to him. "So, are you bringing a date?" He asked to the silence.   
  
"Me? What, no." I spluttered. "I, um, haven't really found anyone. I've only been in Camelot for about a month."  
  
"Shame," Gwaine smiled, "I would have asked you to come with me." He winked, and I burst out laughing.   
  
"So what's stopping you then?"   
  
"I prefer going to parties on my own — means I can do what I want." He shrugged. "Plus, I've got my eye on someone else." He finished, waggling his eyebrows. We arrived at my house, then, and we walked in. After greeting Mum, I took Gwaine into the kitchen for a drink and some food. We found some cold cuts in the fridge and made a quick sandwich. There were some muffins in the bread bin which Gwaine proceeded to help himself to.   
  
He moaned almost orgasmically at the taste of the muffins. I punched his arm in a pointless attempt at silencing him. "Hunith!" He called, as he ran into the living room. "These muffins are _on point_. How is Merlin so skinny, if you're here making these gifts from _God_?" He moaned again when he finished the muffin, licking his fingers as he did. Mum looked slightly lost at this — _at least it's not just me who's confused by him_. I dragged Gwaine away to my room before he could do or say anything else to confuse her.   
  
I pushed the door open to my bedroom and Gwaine flopped onto the bed, crushing whatever books I had thrown on there in the morning, which can't have been comfortable. My thoughts were confirmed when Gwaine groaned and rolled over to his side, clutching his rib, eyes screwed shut in pain. "Jeez, dude have you never heard of shelves or a desk?" He opened his eyes, and raked them around my room. "Or not then. Get a bigger bed then. They're much more fun." He said with a wink.   
  
I shook my head and punched his less painful side and turned to my wardrobe. I pulled out a navy button-down shirt and my skinniest black jeans. I went to the bathroom to have a quick shower and change and when I returned, I found Gwaine looking at the mysterious note I had found in my maths book. "What's this?" He asked, holding up the note. I shrugged a 'no idea' while brushing my teeth. "There's a number on the back." He frowned at it and took his own phone out. I went back to the bathroom to spit and came back to find Gwaine comparing his phone to the note.   
  
"What's up?" I asked, as I folded my day clothes and put them away in the cupboard. Gwaine mumbled something and turned around to catch the word 'Arthur' in his mumble. "What about Arthur?"   
  
"What? No... I dunno. He left his number on the back of this note, but... That's not his writing," He scrunched his face in confusion, "is it?" I walked towards the bed and took the note from his hand. The numbers looked like Arthur's writing, but the note still confused me. _What questions was I supposed to ask to this unknown person_?   
  
"Hmm... I always thought that number was of whoever wrote this." I said, indicating the note. I pulled my phone out my jeans with some difficulty, given how tight my jeans were, and saved the number. Gwaine waited patiently, his eyes lingering on me. "Nice jeans." I looked down, they were pretty tight, but I didn't really care. I picked up my wallet from the bed where I'd left it while changing and headed to the door, waiting for Gwaine. "Even nicer from the back." I groaned and shoved Gwaine in front of me and headed down the stairs.   
  
"Mum, I've got a party, so I'll be home late —"  
  
"If I bring him home, that is." Gwaine cut in.   
  
"—and don't wait up. I've got my keys. I'll text you if I'm coming home after midnight." Mum had laughed when Gwaine interjected and walked over from the couch and pulled Gwaine and I into a three-way hug. I patted her arm after a few seconds to signal that I was ready to let go and she stepped back, smiling. I leaned down to peck her on the cheek before turning around and saying 'goodbye' and heading out the door. The air was cool for September, and I regretted not wearing anything more than just my leather jacket and shirt. I crossed my arms over my chest and shivered slightly. I took a sideline glance at Gwaine who seemed to be lost in his own world. "What're you thinking about?" Gwaine was rarely silent.   
  
"Life. All my teachers spent almost 20 minutes at the start of each lesson telling us we need to start thinking about life after school and what we want to do at uni. I have no idea. What can I do with drama, biology, psychology and English? They're such a random mix of subjects. I don't even know where to start looking."   
  
"The first thing you should do is log onto the UCAS website. They've got a search tool and you can filter the results according to what you think you want to do." I paused for a bit and waited for Gwaine to process this information. "University isn't the only option either. You can go into school leaver schemes with companies or apprenticeships with firms or anything you want."  
  
"i didn't know you could do that. Don't they normally want some qualifications?"   
  
"Well, they normally ask for UCAS points. It's reasonable and achievable. Plus, you'll be earning and you wouldn't have to go through uni and deal with all the debt."   
  
Gwaine pursed his lips in thought and most of the rest of the walk was in silence. "Arthur's going to try something this evening." Gwaine announced a few minutes before we arrived at Arthur's house. "I don't know what he's going to do or who he's going to do it to, but he's been quiet this week. When he's quiet, he's planning something." He finished his last word and paused for effect and gestured to the building behind me.   
  
To say that it was a mansion would be an understatement. Its size was more comparable to a palace. It had a gated, carriage driveway, complete with the crunching gravel and doorman, and the building itself was quadruple-fronted, forget double-fronted. The front door was a set of beautiful oak, heavy double doors and had Roman pillars the height of my house acting as the porch support, which also played the part of the roof for the balcony of the bedroom overlooking the driveway. I stood open-mouthed and openly stared. "What the _fuck_? I knew he was rich, but this—" I pointed at the house "—this is plain stupid." Shaking my head, I stepped into the driveway. Gwaine's arm shot out in a futile attempt to hold me back, when a blaring alarm broke out. "What's going on?" I shouted over the alarm.   
  
"Arthur's dad is slightly over protective and paranoid, so they have this crazy alarm system built in. Hold on, Arthur must've heard. He'll be out soon." Just as he said this, I saw a figure running out of the side of the building. The body had long black hair, and I recognised it belonging to Morgana. She had her hands over her ears as she ran from the house towards the gate. She darted into a small outhouse which I guessed was the security building.

The alarm stopped as Morgana stepped out of the outhouse. "There'll be more guests later on today — the usual crowd. If you see Valiant, don't let him in. And don't let anyone dodgy looking come in either. And make sure no one brings drinks and the only person allowed to bring anything is Owaine. If he comes, let him in, if he doesn't don't ask. Anyone else gets kicked out." She ticked each thing off on her finger and when she finished the guard following her nodded, turned around and marched back to the outhouse.   
  
"Morgs! Great to see you, as always." Gwaine hugged Morgana.

Morgana pushed him off, "Gwaine you saw me 2 hours ago. Get off." She turned to me and winked.   
  
"Arthur's looking forward to seeing you. He's spending ages getting ready. It's actually really funny. I've never seen him like this." I laughed. Imagining Arthur getting very stressed was surprisingly easy because he was so tightly wound a lot of the time. "You can go up to his room if you want." She pointed towards the house, before dragging Gwaine away.   
  
"Yeah if I can find it first! Your place is massive!" I called after her.  She and Gwaine were already too far away to hear me, let alone me catch up to them. I looked up at the impressive house and took a tentative step onto the gravel again. Much to my relief the alarm didn't go off again and I started walking at a comfortable pace towards the door. There was a butler waiting at the door, and held the door open for me when I walked in. I smiled a 'thanks' in his direction and set foot inside the doorway.   
  
After seeing the outside of the house, I was still overwhelmed when I met the interior. The marble flooring was gleaming and I could see my reflection in it. There wasn't a single footprint marking the floor and I felt slightly guilty for wearing my dirty canvas shoes. Directly in front of me, there was a grand staircase, branching off into 2 after about 15 steps, each branch leading to a different 'wing'. I took the left branch after reaching the junction and continued walking down the hallway. It was wide enough for 7 people to walk comfortably arm-in-arm. I leaned over the bannister and peered down. The room I was looking into looked to be where the main party was going to be. It was a large square room with corner sofas placed in groups around small coffee tables. There were about 6 groups of sofas, each group able to seat 15-16 people. There was a bar built into the wall at one end with 3 barmen behind it, prepping plastic cups and placing beer cans into the fridges. I carried on walking through the hallway, occasionally looking down into the party room. I noticed a door to my left that was slightly ajar.

"No, still doesn't look right. What do you think Aithusa?" There was a quiet bark, followed by a more comfortable barking. Whoever was talking was now rubbing Aithusa's   
belly. I tiptoed over to the room and leaning on the doorframe, I peered around the door. Arthur was standing in front of a full height mirror, wearing a casual black shirt with a bleached effect around the hem and sleeves, colouring the shirt a pale blue which complemented his eyes. His muscular body fit snugly into the shirt and his jeans were unfairly tight on him. He was angled away from me, so even if I was standing in full view, he wouldn't have been able to see me in the mirror. I noticed Aithusa, a Siberian husky with blue eyes and grey fur, laying on a luxurious dog sofa. There were many sets of clothes lying around the room, making me smile when I realised that Arthur must have trying on different clothes for a while before I arrived.   
  
"Ahem." I cleared my throat, announcing my presence. "Who d'you wanna impress?" I walked towards him and sat down on the edge of the bed, leaning back on my elbows, and let my legs swing just above the floor.   
  
"No one." He blushed a furious red. "You're early. Why are you so early? I thought we told everyone to come at 9. It's only —" He glanced at the clock on the wall, "—6. Why are you here?" He had started rambling, so I just put a hand up to stop him.   
  
"Jeez Princess, calm down. Gwaine dragged me here early. And you look fine." He had proceeded to fiddle with his shirt buttons, deciding if he should change it. "I'm sure your handsome prince or knight in shining armour will turn up." I beckoned Aithusa over and she bounded over, leapt onto my chest and started licking my face, more violently than I would have liked. I laughed and played along with her, giving her attention.   
  
"Stop it! She's _mine_!" From somewhere, Arthur had found a pillow and flung it at me, only he missed and hit Aithusa instead. She growled at him and turned  away from him before jumping off the bed, and running down the hallway.   
  
"Well that was unnecessary. She hadn't done anything wrong."  
  
"Yes, but she's mine." He all but growled.   
  
"Well aren't you Mr. Protective..." I said shaking my head. "Are you going to show me round, or do I have to get lost myself?" Pointing to the door, I got up. Arthur grumbled something, but he picked up his phone and followed me out. "So what exactly does your dad do?  I know he's some fancy businessman, but what does he do?" We had walked around the balcony overlooking the party room and we're now walking down the right hand branch of the stairs, heading down to the main entrance hall.   
  
"I don't really know what he does, he's never home much for me to know." I sneaked a glance at Arthur's face. He didn't seem to be unsettled by the fact that he doesn't know, or by the fact that he doesn't see his father. "Where's Gwaine gone?"   
  
"Oh, he disappeared somewhere with Morgana. Isn't she going out with Leon?"  
  
"Yeah, but everyone knows not to go near Morgana without invitation. Leon knows that no one will touch her, unless they want their balls chopped off by Morgana herself." We walked through the party room, towards a kitchen in the back of the house. "D'you want anything to drink?" He pulled out a Fanta can from the fridge and offered it to me.   
  
"So you have butlers and servants too?" I asked, remembering the doorman and security building.   
  
"Oh yeah, it must have been you who set the alarm off before? Father seems to think everyone wants to kill him, so he  gets very paranoid. I'm surprised he hasn't hired bodyguards yet."  
  
"Ah look, if it isn't Princess and Cheekbones. What a cute couple they make, don't you think so Morgs?" Gwaine led Morgana into the kitchen, with their arms linked. Arthur blushed again, and I couldn't help but snicker. Gwaine's smile was infectious, and Arthur was easily annoyed.   
  
Morgana's eyes glinted. "You look nice today Arthur, anyone you want to impress? Hmmmm?" She nudged Arthur under the ribs with her free arm and waggled her eyebrows. Arthur turned darker. "Maybe they're here already?" She turned to me then, and although I didnt know Morgana well, I could see her look was calculating.   
  
"Shut up Morgana." Arthur snapped. "Mind your own business." He stalked out of the room in a huff.   
  
"Well, he's a bit touchy. What did you do to him, Merlin?"  
  
"Um, nothing? Not that I know of. He was fine until you guys came in."  
  
"Oh yeah, that was entirely my fault." Gwaine admitted. "I might have teased him a lot about his not-so-secret crush."  
  
"Who's he crushing on?" For some reason, I didn't want to know the answer. _You're not going to be jealous of this guy. You've only known him a week._   
  
"It's you." Morgana said simply, with a one-shouldered shrug. "He kinda hasn't shut up about you this week."  
  
"Yeah, but we share all our classes. He was bound to mention my name at some point." I didn't really know why I was defending him.   
  
"But he's been talking about incessantly. And not just about class things. He's said some stuff about how 'magical your face looks when you smile and you get gold flecks in your ocean blue eyes'. Honestly, it's starting to get a bit weird."


	18. Sorry

To whoever is still reading, I'm sorry but I will be discontinuing this.

I'm really not happy with the way it's turning out and I want to have it properly written before I upload it again. 

Thank you to whoever read it and enjoyed it, but I'm gonna be stopping it for now until I've got it fully sorted.

Thanks anyway


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